The former Fine Gael Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, expressed concern about the impact of the Government's decentralisation plans on the Civil Service.
"I have personal worries about the effect the Budget will have on this great Irish institution. I raise these concerns as queries in the hope they can be satisfactorily answered. It is wrong to describe the move of 10,000 civil servants away from Dublin as decentralisation. It is re-centralisation of parts of the Civil Service to a series of different places."
He said that he had enormous admiration for the Civil Service and regarded it as one of the great achievements of the State. Kevin O'Higgins and others, he added, who insisted on the non-political character of the Civil Service by establishing the Civil Service Commission, had done incalculable good for the State.
"I speak also as a member of the Government that introduced the top-level appointments commission, the purpose of which was to ensure mobility within the Civil Service and to end the confinement of talent within Departments. The Civil Service thus has an essential unity, which has underpinned the unity of the State."
Mr Bruton said he strongly favoured a policy of genuine decentralisation, with decision-making devolved to regional offices of every Department in every region, so that instead of housing policy, for example, being formulated in Dublin or Wexford and then to apply to the whole country, it would be formulated by regional offices in several locations, with some measures of local discretion.
"This genuine decentralisation is exactly the policy this Government is attempting to reverse in the health service. We already have decentralisation through the health boards, which have been making decisions in the regions accessible to our citizens. The Government now proposes to do away with decentralised health boards and centralise health policy."
Mr Bruton said he agreed there was scope to move those involved in the implementation of policy out of Dublin. "Implementation of policy is a mechanical process and, using modern communications, it can be done from almost anywhere. Therefore, it makes excellent sense to do it at lower cost outside Dublin. On that basis, there is scope for moving considerable numbers of public servants out of Dublin. On the Minister's list, probably 5,000 of the decentralised jobs are involved with the implementation of policy and there is no problem with moving those jobs out of Dublin. It makes excellent sense.
"The making of policy at headquarters, however, requires constant and easy contact among decision-makers in all Departments. It also requires that senior Civil Service decision-makers be easily accessible to members of the public and organisations that wish to make representations to them. On that basis, I question the decision to decentralise in multiple locations outside the capital the policy-making functions of certain Civil Service and State bodies.
"What is a capital city and why does every country have one? Capital cities exist in most democracies to make policy at national level. This is done in one place because there are inherent economies of scale in making policy in one place. "
